Surprisingly Strong Jobs Report in September, But Labor Market Remains Fragile

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{ "title": "Surprisingly Strong Jobs Report in September, But Labor Market Remains Fragile", "article": "The Labor Department has released a delayed report on September's job numbers, revealing a surprisingly solid 119,000 jobs added in the month. However, the report also contains some concerning details, including a revision of August's job numbers from a gain of 22,000 to a loss of 4,000. This revision shaved off 33,000 jobs from July and August's payrolls, and the economy also shed jobs in June for the first time since the 2020 pandemic. The job gains in September were largely driven by the healthcare and social assistance sector, which added over 57,000 jobs, and the leisure and hospitality sector, which added 37,000 jobs. However, factories shed 6,000 jobs for the fifth straight month, and the federal government lost 3,000 jobs for the eighth consecutive month. The unemployment rate rose to 4.4% in September, the highest since October 2021, and up from 4.3% in August. This increase was partly due to 470,000 people entering the labor market in September, but not all of them found jobs right away. The report comes at a time of economic uncertainty, with the job market strained by high interest rates and the ongoing trade tensions. Despite this, economic growth at midyear was resilient, and average hourly wages rose just 0.2% from August and 3.8% from a year earlier. The September jobs report may make a rate cut by the Federal Reserve less likely, as steady hiring suggests the economy doesn't need lower interest rates to expand. However, the Fed officials are split between those who see high inflation as the main challenge and those who are more concerned about sluggish hiring. The Labor Department's revisions to the job numbers for the year that ended in March showed that the economy created 911,000 fewer jobs than originally reported, meaning that employers added an average of just 71,000 new jobs a month over that period. Since March, job creation has fallen further, to an average of 59,000 a month. The delayed release of the October jobs report has raised concerns, as the Labor Department will only release some of the data, including the number of jobs created, along with the full November report on December 16. This has left businesses, investors, and policymakers grappling for clarity on the state of the American labor market."